<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Becoming by idrilhadhafang</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192020">Becoming</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang'>idrilhadhafang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Balance To The Force By Accident, Ben Solo Lives, Crack Treated Seriously, Demonic Possession, F/M, Families of Choice, Fix-It of Sorts, Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, Gen, In which only Palpatine stays dead, Jedi Spirits, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Related, M/M, Minor Revan/Bastila Shan, Past Rape/Non-Con By Palpatine, Powerful Rey, Resurrection, Rey Palpatine, Rey Skywalker, Rey and Ben Solo Are Technically Cousins, Strong Rey (Star Wars), of sorts, sith spirits</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:20:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey killing Palpatine has unforeseen side-effects. When she defeated the Emperor a second time, being possessed by the Jedi and the Sith at the same time was not what she had in mind. </p><p>At least the Sith aren’t so bad by and large...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Rey &amp; The Sith, Rey &amp; the Jedi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Becoming</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: I own nothing. </p><p>Author’s Notes: Call this a weird idea I got.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rey hadn’t expected the afterlife to look a lot like the inside of a fallen Star Destroyer on Jakku, but she supposed today was full of surprises. Even as she pushed herself to her feet, she wasn’t prepared to see a whole legion of beings in front of her. Jedi and Sith alike. <br/><br/>It was an old woman, dressed in black with her hair worn in almost girlish pigtails, her eyes darker than the gap between galaxies, who spoke. “It is ironic that the Emperor’s granddaughter was the one to save us all.”</p><p>“You’re...the Sith possessing the Emperor?” Rey said. </p><p>The old woman scoffed. “Yes, and I assure you, it was far from pleasant. The man was a buffoon. He could have used his powers to make others see, to make them understand...he didn’t. To fall so far and learn nothing...he knew everything, except how to be a better student.”</p><p>”Hardly surprising," the Jedi with the long brown hair said. He looked over at Rey. “We’re not all Sith. Some of us are the Jedi who helped you. When you killed the Emperor...there must have been an unusual side effect.” A beat. “I’m Revan, by the way.”</p><p>”So...”</p><p>”You aren’t dead,” said the old woman. “Merely unconscious. As for if we’re Sith...Sith is but a name. It is too simple for beings like us. Who we are. Who we believe.”</p><p>The scarred man spoke. “We are in-between,” he said, in his rumbling voice that sounded like rocks being scraped together. “I showed compassion in my final moments, though I was not redeemed. The Force does not know what to do with us...it only made it easier for that wretched creature to exploit us.” A beat. “It was a prison in his body. He tried to break us...we could only do what we could to fight back. To sabotage what he was doing.”</p><p>”I’m sorry,” Rey said, softly. </p><p>”Save your pity,” said the old woman. “We live in you now. For better and for worse,” she added wryly.</p><p>”But I’m...”</p><p>”We can bring you back,” said the old woman. “I have powers left over from my days as Jedi, Sith and neither, and so I can heal you. The spirits of the dead are not immune to using the Force, after all.”</p><p>”All right,” Rey said. </p><p>She could see the afterlife fading away from her as the old woman placed a hand on her forehead. Then, “Awaken, Rey. Your role is far from over...”</p><p><br/>***</p><p>It was even as her eyes opened on Exegol that Rey realized that, impossibly, she had come back to life. She pushed herself to her feet, coughing even as she looked around. The dyad had apparently broken; dying tended to do that. </p><p>And speaking of the dyad...</p><p>”Ben!” she shouted. </p><p>“Nearly...there...”</p><p>Ben was already grunting even as he made his way up the jagged rocks that outlined the pit. Finally, he got to the top, panting. And then there was the look of confusion in his eyes — of fear. </p><p>”There’s...more of you, isn’t there?” he said. “Living in you.”</p><p>”It was a side effect,” Rey said. “Palpatine,” she would be damned if she called him “Grandfather”, at all. “Said that he was all the Sith. When I killed him, the Sith passed to me.”</p><p>Ben looked like he had been struck. Then, “I wanted to make sure...you didn’t end up like me,” he said. </p><p>”Ben,” Rey said softly, “Don’t be absurd. It...sounds absurd, but it’s like with the mixture of Jedi and Sith in me...”</p><p>Ben seemed to be trying to process it. “Are you saying that in a way, Palpatine achieved balance...by mistake?”</p><p>Rey smiled. “I suppose. He’s cunning, but he can’t foresee everything. He would have foreseen Vader throwing him down that shaft if that were the case.”</p><p>”Point taken.” Ben took a deep breath. “Rey...there’s something I need to tell you.”</p><p><em>He’s your cousin, Rey. Technically. </em>She knew Anakin Skywalker’s voice, from when he had given her (with the other Jedi) the strength to stand up. <em>Palpatine...manipulated my mother’s body to become pregnant with me. I’m your father’s half-brother, your father is Ben’s great-uncle...you’re his cousin. </em></p><p>Rey swallowed. So she was Ben’s cousin. Technically a Skywalker as well as a Palpatine. Palpatine was wrong when he called Ben the last Skywalker. Or perhaps he was lying. He tended to do that, she’d heard. </p><p>She couldn’t help but mourn, at least for Shmi, and what Palpatine had done to her. </p><p>She spoke. ”Ben, if it’s about the romantic relationship thing...we’re technically related.”</p><p>A beat. “I was about to tell you about Poe Dameron, but...we’re related? We can’t be half-siblings; for all my father’s faults, he never cheated on my mother...”</p><p>”It’s complicated. But Palpatine...” And even explaining what Palpatine had done to Shmi Skywalker, Rey wasn’t going to lie; she did feel sick. Ben also looked taken aback. </p><p>”So my grandfather...was basically the result of rape?” he said. </p><p>Rey nodded. “Which makes it all the better that the Emperor’s gone.” Then, “But my father’s technically your great-uncle. In a way, we’re...cousins.” </p><p>She trailed off. Would she have to call herself Rey Skywalker-Palpatine? Maybe just Rey Skywalker, now that she thought about it. She doubted that calling herself Rey Palpatine would go over well with basically anyone. </p><p><em>What a peculiar importance you place on names</em>, the old woman said. <em>The whelp hardly cared for being called a Solo, and yet you’re worrying about what last name you’ll take. Does it matter that much to you?</em></p><p>“I never thought I’d say this,” Ben said wryly, “But I don’t think the voice in your head likes me.”</p><p>Rey smiled. “She’s a little grumpy,” she said. “I’ll take her over the Emperor any day. The Sith...they don’t seem to have liked him any more than we did.”</p><p>”Obviously,” Ben said. Then, “We need a way off Exegol. And as I was saying before you dropped the we’re-cousins bomb...I was intending to find Poe at some point. I have too much to apologize for.”</p><p>”You knew Poe?” Rey said. </p><p>”We grew up together,” Ben said. “My mother and his mother were friends. Later...I fell in love with him. It was easy to fall in love with him, with his kind nature, his utter love for people, his humor...”</p><p>”Interesting.” Rey couldn’t say she had seen that from Poe. Much, that is. “He didn’t talk about you...but he didn’t talk about himself much in the first place.”</p><p>”I wouldn’t be surprised,” Ben said. Then, “We should leave. There should be a ship on Exegol I can take. It’s...about time that I faced what I did.”</p><p>Rey nodded. “Just follow me.”</p><p>”I’ll be right behind you.”</p><p>***</p><p>Making their way back to the Resistance Base wasn’t easy. Rey had sensed Poe, conflicted about firing on Ben’s ship, but eventually acquiescing to Rey’s pleas to spare Ben. She could sense Poe’s relief, in that moment, even as he called off his firing on Ben’s ship. </p><p><em>It won’t be easy</em>. Revan’s voice. <em>Not many Sith have actually lived to redeem themselves. Death is easy. Living to make recompense...that is harder. I suppose that you could say that Bastila gave me that gift.</em></p><p>“Bastila.” Fortunately, Rey’s communications system had deactivated after her conversation with Poe. “She’s your wife, isn’t she?”</p><p><em>None other</em>, a warm, softly pretty voice said. Then, more seriously, <em>I regret what ultimately happened to him. His memories — when I brought him back to the Enclave, he’d suffered severe head trauma. It would have been easy to let him die, but...I couldn’t. What Luke Skywalker forgot, </em>and here she sounded angry, <em>is that the Jedi hold all life sacred, even that of a Sith Lord, even that of a Knight of Ren. Not only was him trying to kill his own nephew cowardly, but no one deserves execution, no matter what their crimes. <br/></em></p><p>”It was a moment of weakness,” Rey tried to argue. </p><p>
  <em>I’m certain he justified it to himself thus. That he made a mistake. Like trying to kill your nephew was something anyone would have done. Like it would have been natural to kill him while hearing Snoke’s voice in his mind. He lost his compassion. He knew what it meant to be a Jedi when he tried to save his father. When he nearly drew his lightsaber...he might have thought he was preventing another darkness. But you can’t defeat darkness with cruelty. Kindness differentiates us. <br/></em>
</p><p>”Yes." Rey thought back to Kef Bir. How she had nearly killed Ben — before healing him. In that moment, she knew what it meant to be a Jedi. It was easy to kill. It was harder to spare. ”What about Ben?”</p><p><em>I wish him well,</em> Bastila said. <em>Though I doubt that I can influence the outcome of his trial. That’s up to the Force and the Resistance.</em></p><p><em>So Battle Meditation doesn’t apply to legal cases? </em>Revan said<em>. <br/></em></p><p>A good-natured scoff from Bastila<em>. I swear it’s like being back with Carth. He’d probably say something like that too. <br/></em></p><p>Rey smiled faintly. Somehow, despite the oddness of her situation and the uncertainty of Ben’s, she could take comfort in the fact that she had this odd family in her mind. A good amount of them trying to redeem themselves. She never thought that she would find not only a family in Ben, but in her head. </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>